QUINT: I have to bring up WATCHMEN before they pull me away...ZACK SNYDER: Ah, yeah. Of course.QUINT: The one question more than any other that is on fan's minds is how the hell are you going to fit that entire story into one movie?ZACK SNYDER: Hrmm...QUINT: I know you probably don't want to go into much detail, but...ZACK SNYDER: No, no, no, no, no... I don't mind talking about it. I love it. It's an awesome thing. It's a crazy and strange turn of events that it ends up on my desk with someone going, "Oh, you want to make this into a movie?" I'm like, "What? Are you kidding me?" Seems like a mistake, but also one that I'm not going to tell anyone about because, you know, I'm probably over-sensitive... maybe too much. You know, my experience with the material so far and the different drafts that had been written, including Alex (Tse)'s latest and the book itself... When I was introduced to it in-motion. I hadn't read the other drafts when it was in development. Now, when we started they were like, "Hey, what do you think?" Boom, here's all the drafts in a big pile next to me.Basically I got the book and the script and put them next together. For me, my copy of WATCHMEN is highlighted and things are written all over it. My first order of business, and it's a thing that I can't say anyone has got a handle on, except for me, is getting the ideas of the book into the screenplay. The (David) Hayter draft to some extent does and Alex's to some extent does, but I don't think anyone has cracked it. The problem of WATCHMEN isn't the mystery of who is killing who, it's not the love story, it's not the betrayals or anything like that. I think the problem is that the screenwriters, and maybe rightly so... the mechanics is the first thing they worry about, you know? Of course, if you don't have the mechanics you can't hang story on it. For me, the work of WATCHMEN is you take those stories and you figure out how you get at the essence of the book. The book is transcendent of the story. The philosophy of the book... that's what needs to get put back in the screenplays, in my opinion. I'm waiting to see what Alex does next. I think beyond that my hope is to... now that we're finishing 300 hundred, my hope is to really set some good time aside to really roll up my sleeves and go, "Not only here's the ideas, here's the frames I love. This HAS to be in the movie..."QUINT: Are you wanting to go for a more realistic, less stylized vision of the world?ZACK SNYDER: No, I don't know that the filmmakers in the past who have been attached to this... I just don't know what their take on the actual frames were. I gotta believe that they kind of really... I mean, I don't know Paul (Greengrass). I like his movies, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would take a graphic novel and film it, you know what I'm saying? It's going to be verite-ish. Whereas for me, my style is, like, graphic novel. I want to be able to get as much as the graphic novel in the movie as I can. I want the experience of watching the movie to be similar to the experience of reading the graphic novel, but also be its own thing.I think Alan (Moore) has said himself that the object of a book is to be a book, to be read by the fire and curl up with on a Saturday night. The object of a movie is different.QUINT: Sometimes they mix together, though.ZACK SNYDER: Absolutely!QUINT: With a movie like Sin City and hopefully 300, the fans don't want to see someone's alternate take on this material. They want to see moving versions of their beloved comics. They want to see Frank Miller's SIN CITY, Frank Miller's 300.ZACK SNYDER: Absolutely, absolutely. But I think the trick is... What we've done with 300, the connective tissue that a movie needs... that's the thing. The connective tissue has to be in the spirit of what was drawn. That's how you make the experience continue.There you have it, squirts. That's it. Short, I know, but hopefully you have an inkling of what this guy will do. If WATCHMEN looks half as cool and gorgeous and breath-taking as the footage of 300 I saw today, then we're in for a classic.

Citation :

given to sci-fi channel: Snyder agreed with a characterization that a movie based on the dense, multilayered Watchmen is "the Rubik's Cube" of comic-book films. "Truly," he said. He added: "I don't know if it's the answer, but everybody says, 'Well, oh, ... respect the source material, and the source material dictates this.' ... But I think that what Hollywood misses, and what we need to think about, is, like: What is the book about? What does it mean? It's easy to get caught up in the mechanics of writing the script. ... That is, I think, the problem with the movie: ... that the screenwriters get caught up in the story, and they forget about what the book's about. So, for me, it's like, you got to ... deconstruct it. And it's more important to get to the philosophy of the book than it is to the frickin' A and B of the book, like who goes here, and who goes there." Watchmen has been gestating for years and was recently dropped by Paramount before being picked up by Warner Brothers. "What will happen?" Snyder said. "I don't know. I can tell you this: As far as I'm concerned, ... the Watchmen movie needs to frickin' be hard and challenge everybody. ... The awesome thing about it is that Warner Brothers has it, and in some way it's incredibly poetic that they do. Because they have Superman and Batman, and I always go, 'Do you guys realize what Watchmen is? ... Do you really want me to make this movie?' And, you know what, I think to their credit, they're like, 'Yeah, we think we do.' Because I think they know." ...

SHH!: As far as "Watchmen," there's probably not much more you can say about it until they give you a script.Snyder: Yeah, working on the script and if it's awesome, I'll do it.

SHH!: You're taking up a project like this after remaking a beloved horror classic like "Dawn of the Dead" then making a movie based on a Frank Miller comic, but with "Watchmen," so many directors have tried making this movie and failed, so why would you put yourself through that?Snyder: It is challenging, and I have to say that if I can crack "Watchmen" it would be awesome for everybody. I just don't think that Hollywood, in general, has any idea what "Watchmen" is. They think it's a superhero movie. They think it's "Fantastic Four," and guys, it really isn't. Basically, they thought they were making "The Champ" and they got frickin' "Fight Club," you know what I mean? That's the difference. That's how hard it is. The problem is that if everyone thinks they're getting a superhero movie, what they're going to get is like something that really makes them examine the entire genre. I always say that if we nail "Watchmen," if it's awesome, everyone [making superhero movies] is going to be like, "Man, you've made it hard for the rest of us." Which is what you want, I mean, that's how it should be.

SHH!: Kind of like what happened when the graphic novel came out. "Watchmen" was a very specific story wrapped-up in 12 issues, so have you thought about how you're going to get as much as possible into the movie or even separating it into two movies?Snyder: You know, I haven't. What I've been doing is really trying to measure the work on what's being presented to me right now, and whether that has to be expanded or made into two movies. That's a question that I'm going to have to answer as they get closer to them saying, "Okay, what's the movie?" Because right now, I'm finishing "300," and I haven't really [thought about it], other than going, "Yeah, Watchmen could be awesome!" Other than that, truly, I haven't had a ton of time, other than I know the book and leave it by my bed. My [copy of] "Watchmen" is like freaking highlighted and drawn-on and dog-eared and f*cked up. Other than that, I sort of know in my heart what it should be. I know it in an abstract way, I guess I'm saying. I haven't really gone to the place of saying, "What's the practical on this, and how many days are we shooting? How many scenes?" That I have not done, because I just don't have the time right now. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be finished with a lot of my responsibilities on "300" and I'm going to really then be able to go, "Okay, let's look at this. Let's be practical and real about what it is." I think from then, we'll really be able to get a sense of it. I mean, I'd love to do it soon.

SHH!: I know you're a big action fan also, but unlike "300," Moore's book doesn't really lend itself to doing a lot of action.Snyder: No, it's not a big action thing. That's the problem with it, in the sense of that's what happens to a screenplay, is that when you distill it down, you end up with only the action scenes. That's why you have to be careful, because you don't want it to become that, because then it becomes like a movie. I always say that "300," it's not a movie, it's something else. And that's how "Watchmen" is to me. It's not a movie. If you don't understand that "Watchmen" is an experience, then you don't understand "Watchmen."

SHH!: How much time have you spent working on "300" from beginning to end? Snyder: From the day I got back from "Dawn of the Dead," from the day it was released, that's how long I've been working on it.

SHH!: Are you worried that "Watchmen" is going to become your life, and that you'll end up spending five years trying to make sense of it? Snyder: It's possible. I mean, I don't really think about it that way. If it's good it's good, however long it takes.

SHH!: I'm glad Warner Bros. is behind you and are liking what you're doing with "300" to have you do it. Snyder: They're really behind me, and I think they want "Watchmen" to be awesome. It's like I was saying. They have Superman and Batman. How cool for them to do "Watchmen"? It's like they have these billion dollar franchises, and basically they are making a movie that goes, "What does that mean?"

As an added bonus, here's some more non-exclusive stuff from Zack on his take on Watchmen from a roundtable interview we did earlier that day:

SHH!: How different is it going to be taking the way you're working on "300," basing it so much on Frank Miller's art and writing, to how you might approach "Watchmen"?Snyder: The thing with "Watchmen" is you can use a similar language, because you can say, "Okay, here is this frame"--and I would hope that it's going to be a slightly different process because every movie needs each own thing—but for me anyway, I think it's certainly a thing that's worked and there's no need to break it now. So far with "300," I kind of have a system where I can find the frame, find the moments around it and the ideas around it and make the through-lines happen.

SHH!: But in that case, would "Watchmen" really need to look like Dave Gibbons' artwork, because it's supposed to be set more or less in the real world?Snyder: "Watchmen" is different because it's a building and it's a modern world. I don't think that the intention of "Watchmen" is to render… For instance, like Richard Nixon, you can't film Richard Nixon because he doesn't exist, so would you put a guy in prosthetics and make him look like Richard Nixon? That's one way to do it and it's kind of cool. Would you do some sort of "Zelig"-y stolen footage thing? That's another way to do it. I tend to go towards the guy in prosthetics who looks like a crazy version of Richard Nixon, because it looks more like the drawings.

SHH!: But will you still be using David Hayter's script?Snyder: A lot of it. Here's the thing with "Watchmen." Since I've been involved with it, [writer] Alex [Tse] came on, the Hayter script still exists, but I think honestly for me, Alex's take and Hayter's take, they're both versions of "Watchmen" but for me, they're not it. No one's cracked it. I mean there are elements that I really like, but one of my favorite lines in the book is where the scientist, in the text part of the book—and I need this in the movie. I'll write it in the movie if those guys can't figure it out—where he says, "I never said that Superman was real and he was American. What I said was God was real and he's American." That to me is awesome, it's hilarious, and it's so true to the book. That's what the whole book is about, that kind of religious irony that makes you go "what the f*ck?" I feel that what happens in the script form is that everyone tries to figure out "how do I get this guy over here?" and "this guy over there?" They're just trying to get the mystery, the story, to work, where my concern is the other stuff, the philosophy of it. Honestly, what's going to probably end up happening, and I don't know, who knows--we'll see what these guys do--I'm really waiting to see something that's close enough that I can go, "Okay, I can do this. Let me glue some sh*t onto this and make it work."

SHH!: Is there any hesitation on taking on a project that has literally been going on for decades and possibly becoming the next guy in a line of people who didn't get it off the ground?Snyder: Of course, if you don't think that then you're just "I'm scared of it!" Honestly though, for me, "Watchmen" is so cool that whenever I get bummed out about the script or about making it into a movie and what everyone thinks, I just go to the book and open it up, look at it and go, "Okay, this is going to be awesome. Don't freak yourself out." For all the guys who say, "Don't make it into a movie!" and I have to say that some days I wake up and I'm that guy. On the other hand, I still honestly believe that you're never going to get all of it into the book, but I would hope that if you can get it so that the experience of the movie is similar to the experience of the book, [people can] then go, "I want more. I'm going to go read that now. I'm going go to read the whole book and get every little ounce of it."

few days ago Empire sat down with director Zack Snyder who, despite exhaustion from putting the final touches on Spartan epic 300 (watch the trailer for that here), found just enough energy to fill us in on the latest goings on with Watchmen. An adaptation has been long in the works for the Alan Moore comic book set in the mid-80s when superheroes are outlawed and now, at last, it seems things are progressing well.

“We’re getting ready to turn a script that we like into this studio,” says Snyder. “They’re pretty excited about it…I think the script that Alex (Tse) has done for us is the closest to the graphic novel it’s been [since development started], for better or for worse. I feel like Alex has done an awesome job. It’s keeping all the things that are cool about the comic”. And despite widespread assumptions, Snyder isn’t planning to update it from its Cold War setting to the present day, despite both eras sharing a political unrest.

“1985’s a problem for people,” he continues. “The Cold War’s a problem for people. But these are things I’ve been trying to [tell people] would be cool. I like that Richard Nixon is the president in it. I think that’s important. Those kinds of things tell you exactly what kind of movie this is – it’s not Fantastic Four, you know”.

Though Snyder’s adopted a heavily stylised, uber-true to the comic look for 300, he doesn’t plan to use any kind of similar blue screen technique for Watchmen. “There are places like Mars and Antarctica [which will need to be blue screen] and then there are certain places where you need to feel the reality…If you look at Sin City, a blue screen city, that’s kind of wrong for Watchmen…There are so many easter eggs in the frames (of the comic) so you want that level of detail in the movie itself. Even though it’s going to be harder to do…I did Dawn of the Dead and now I’ve done 300 and I feel like it’s a combination of the two. I feel like I know how to do it”.

Finally, though the script is almost ready, Snyder insists it’s too early for casting, despite numerous internet speculation (Paddy Considine for Rorschach! – sorry, it’s a habit). “I honestly don’t have anyone at all yet. But there are a lot of people interested. No-one’s seen the script, although I know there are people I could sign up without one”. Adds his producer, and wife, Deborah Snyder: “We’ve been getting a lot of calls since Comic Con…all the people who have clients who are fans of the Watchmen are like ‘Hey, just remember we’re here’".

Zack Snyder, who will direct an upcoming film version of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that Warner Brothers likes his take on the material, which goes back to the source for its inspiration, closely following the original 1985 setting and alternate-history American mileu in which Richard Nixon is still president. That faithfulness to the graphic novel, which has been famously considered unadaptable to film, ironically, provided the key to unlocking the script, Snyder said.

"That was the thing," Snyder said in an interview following a Nov. 8 screening of footage from his other upcoming graphic-novel adaptation, 300, in Hollywood, Calif. "What they tried to do is turn it into a movie. And that's not really how we approached it. ... [Co-writer Alex [Tse] and I were [like], 'What ... [about the] graphic novel do we love? Let's do that!' And I think that when we delivered that version of the script to them, and it was long, of course, ... it's not [a metaphor for the] war on terror, it's not like trying to be, like, bulls--t updated. You know, which gets confusing. And then Adrian [Veidt]'s story gets all, like, lost with that. So ... that was the thing that cracked it: Just going back to the source. Saying, 'OK, why does this work here?' It seemed really obvious. It was weird. ... It's pretty exciting. They're pretty excited."

The studio offered a few notes, but Snyder said that the draft was accepted pretty much as is. "We've shown ... Alex and my official draft to the studio," he said. "And I feel like they're really excited now. They feel like it's a movie, and they get it now, and they're into 1985, and they're into the Cold War and Nixon and all the cool bits. So we're really excited. We're doing another little bit of changes, and then, I mean, knock on wood, we'll get going."

One element that Snyder introduces is a title montage sequence that will walk the audience through recent decades of the alternate-history United States, starting with the Kennedy assassination and Vietnam War and taking viewers to the current day, which is 1985.

Snyder added that he was in a private airport during his travels recently and came across the real Henry Kissinger, who was traveling with his own entourage. Snyder said that he attempted to approach Kissinger to ask him to play himself in the film, but was blocked by Kissinger's wife from speaking with the former secretary of state.

Written from 1986 to '87, Watchmen is set in 1985 in an alternate-history United States in which superheroes, called "costumed adventurers," exist, the Cold War is threatening to turn into a nuclear conflagration, Nixon is president, and the heroes have been outlawed. When one of their number is mysteriously murdered, the others spring into action. The Hugo-Award-winning graphic novel, by Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, is considered a landmark in comics and a heavy influence on films, books and comics since. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

One element that Snyder introduces is a title montage sequence that will walk the audience through recent decades of the alternate-history United States, starting with the Kennedy assassination and Vietnam War and taking viewers to the current day, which is 1985

Fans of Watchmen unite - the project is finally moving along positively! Director Zack Snyder, who's currently out promoting his Spartan epic 300, answered some questions to press about the comic book adaptation.

Zack started off by saying, “I feel like the movie is in a pretty cool place. I think the script is starting to become pretty cool.” He also added that “we're trying to get a budget together now” and “I've been drawing away, you know. I think it's coming along, so they say.” Zack also discussed the movie's setting and CGI choices.

Although he wouldn't reveal anything about the actors or who they might be, he did say that, “it's cool because in some ways you can get real actors, you don't have to go ‘Hollywood.’ ” And also about when production may start, stating “they have talked about maybe shooting in the summer” - which was also confirmed as a possibility at a later press conference by his wife, Deborah Snyder, who is an executive producer on both 300 and Watchmen.

Zack also says he's setting his film in 1985 and comments:

“There has been a push on I think everybody's… on the other scripts that exist about trying to update the movie or make it take place in present day, or things of that nature. I think that by setting the movie in ‘85, by having the Cold War, having Nixon, having all that stuff you reinvigorate what the story is about. It allows all the metaphors…”

“I think what Alan Moore has, in his book, the comic he's made about authority and government and all those things, they're big themes. Maybe if you make that movie right, [then] what that has to say makes people think about what's happening maybe now or in their own lives. That's my hope for what the movie can be.”

And finally, he discusses just how much CGI he may use:

“The idea of Watchmen is not to do a CGI movie, but to do it when it's necessary. Like when Doc Manhattan goes to Mars, there's an issue here, we've got to figure that out. We can't go to Mars, I know, a lot people are going to be disappointed by that - but I just don't have the money. Antarctica also, there's no Carnac built there. I know, again, we should probably build it and then go film it there, but I don't think they're going let us do that. So those two things right off the bat you can think about. Dr. Manhattan himself, what do you do, how do you make him - how do you render him. Rorschach's mask. There's things that have to be dealt with and figured out. But I think that the appetite for me is to make a movie that feel's more like Taxi Driver than like Fantastic Four, again. So it's a balance.”

Zack also says, “go see 300!” as the best way to help Watchmen (maybe even get a bigger budget) and includes that the studio doesn't “understand why it's not Fantastic Four. I have to remind them, I go, ‘look, it's much more Strangelove than Fantastic Four,’ which they don't like hearing.” So if you are a fan of Watchmen, go see 300, and stay tuned for what sounds like an incredible project that may be starting very soon.